The economic consequences and political benefits associated with it encouraged many countries to try and “game” the system by making superficial improvements on indicators being measured and when that failed by putting explicit pressure on the World Bank research team.

“The much-touted Ease of Doing Business Index (EoDB) is dead. The flagship product created by the World Bank came under attack on grounds that its data was modified in response to pressure from countries like China and Saudi Arabia. As a result of an independent audit the index has now been abandoned by the Bank…”.  Read more: